Home Inspections of VA and WV, LLC v. Jesse Hardin

Summary

This document is a dissenting opinion in a West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals case involving whether a home inspection contract contained an enforceable agreement to arbitrate. The dissent argues that the contract language requiring disputes to be resolved informally was ambiguous and did not establish arbitration procedures or a clear agreement to arbitrate. It also discusses unconscionability and the interpretation of ambiguous contract terms.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the contract provision stating that disputes "shall be resolved informally between the parties" constituted an enforceable agreement to arbitrate.
2. Whether the provision was ambiguous or meaningless because it omitted any actual arbitration procedure, including the arbitrator, governing rules, location, timing, and allocation of fees.
3. Whether West Virginia's unconscionability doctrine should require both procedural and substantive unconscionability, or instead permit consideration of the two aspects together.

Disposition

other